ICE HOCKEY: EHS meets Kirkwood in playoff opener

Edwardsville lost to Pioneers 2-1 in the regular season

Edwardsville goalie Matt Griffin makes a glove save early in the third period against Saint Louis University High on Thursday at Kennedy Ice Rink.

Edwardsville goalie Matt Griffin makes a glove save early in the third period against Saint Louis University High on Thursday at Kennedy Ice Rink.

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Edwardsville goalie Matt Griffin makes a glove save early in the third period against Saint Louis University High on Thursday at Kennedy Ice Rink.

Edwardsville goalie Matt Griffin makes a glove save early in the third period against Saint Louis University High on Thursday at Kennedy Ice Rink.

ICE HOCKEY: EHS meets Kirkwood in playoff opener

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Now the fun begins.

The Edwardsville Tigers will open the Mid-States Hockey Association’s Challenge Cup against the only team that beat them at full strength during the regular season.

The Kirkwood Pioneers handed the Tigers a 2-1 defeat back on Dec. 22 at Queeny Park in Ballwin, Mo.

“You never want to lose and you hate for that to be the wake-up call, but we need to use it as a learning experience,” Jason Walker said after the game. “We need to reset and refocus and be ready to go for the second half of the schedule.”

It’s the first of a three-game preliminary round, which has Edwardsville also facing CBC on Saturday and Fort Zumwalt West on Thursday.

The preliminary round has 12 teams split into two six-team conferences and then three-team divisions. Edwardsville is the top-seeded team in Red Conference’s Division A with No. 6 Chaminade and No. 11 Timberland.

The top four teams from each conference advance to the quarterfinals for a standard bracketed tournament.

“We just kind of go with what we’ve got. We are pretty familiar with the format because of the other tournaments we play in. It’s not going to make a difference to us,” Walker said of the format in a Monday interview.

Since the loss to Kirkwood, Edwardsville went 5-2-1 down the stretch to end the regular season with a 15-5-1 record.

Kirkwood, unbeaten in three of its last four games, is 6-10-4.

“They are a hard-working team. They have good goaltending, play good team defense and they will skate,” Walker said. “If you’re not able to match their intensity level, they’ll make you look bad. We will be ready for Friday night. It’s going to be a battle.”

In the loss to Kirkwood, Edwardsville was playing at full strength.

In the other four losses, a combination of players missed due to injury or club obligation.

Walker expects to have a full roster tonight.

“I think everybody will be ready,” Walker said. “We are in a good spot right now.”

It’s an Edwardsville roster with a lot of talent.

Tyler Schaeffer, the program’s all-time leading scorer, has 16 goals and 17 assists for 33 points, fifth most in the league.

Stanley Lucas is tied with Schaeffer for the team lead in goals with 16. The junior also has 10 assists.

Three other skaters have scored at least 10 goals. Lucas Tucker has 13 goals and 15 assists, while Carson Lewis has 11 goals and eight assists and John Paul Krekovich has 10 goals and three assists.

Henson and Logan Bielicke have scored seven goals apiece. Mitchell Oberlag has added five goals and Reilly Patton has three goals.

In total, 13 different players have scored at least a goal and 18 registered at least a point.

Griffin, meanwhile, is a stalwart in goal. He is 12-3-1 with a 1.66 goals against average and a save percentage of 93.8. He made 395 saves in the regular season, compared to 210 last season when he saw far less shots.

“Our boys are ready to go. You have 12 teams in this playoff and they are all capable of winning it. You are going to have to play your best,” Walker said.

Kirkwood is led in scoring by Jack Wess, who has 12 goals and three assists. No other Pioneer has more than eight goals.

Wess scored the first goal in Kirkwood’s 2-1 win over Edwardsville.

The Challenge Cup continues for Edwardsville against second-seeded CBC at 9:15 p.m. Saturday in Affton and then against 10th-seeded Fort Zumwalt West at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Queeny Park.

EHS went 1-2 against CBC in the regular season, and it beat Fort Zumwalt West 6-2 in the only meeting.

“These are teams we’ve seen already, and they are all really good hockey teams,” Walker said. “We are going to have to put together good hockey games.”